If you saw City Slickers, you’ll remember Curly holding up his finger and stating there is one thing and you need to stick with it. For a business, that one thing is being clear about your purpose. From there, there are a number of little things that are needed to make your business hum. Here are twenty tips to help you do just that:
Your purpose and how it shows up every day
- Be clear about who you are and what you do
- Make your values known and only hire people who are aligned with your values
- Find the balance between having a Taj Mahal and looking like you are going out of business. People need a decent environment to be productive and to be engaged
- Get rid of the things that are hard. Doing business for and with you should be easy
- Constantly innovate to stay relevant, provide value to customers and outperform the competition
You at your best
- Eat well, get enough sleep and exercise regularly. These are necessities for keeping your mind clear and focused, and managing stress
- Minimize meetings. There are typically only a few that have any real value
- Focus on return on your time. Spend it on things that matter and not just the things that pop up
- Surround yourself with people who inspire you, stretch you and bring out your best thinking
Teams that outperform their competition
- Hire the best people, align goals and allow them to make decisions. Be clear about responsibilities, accountabilities and decision making
- We vs. Them. Them is the competition, not coworkers
- Ensure you have all the skills and capabilities at the table so you are making informed decisions
- Engage with the best partners, whether investors, suppliers, bankers, etc. They will round out your knowledge and team with you to grow and innovate
- Meet with your customers to strengthen relationships, align on how you can best work together
- Walk around and talk to the people in your business every day and visit remote locations frequently
Keeping score and outperforming
- Set the bar high to cause people to think, stretch and achieve more. At some point, you’ll realize you actually set the bar too low
- Know the drivers of your business and how they are performing
- Understand your business cycles and how to adjust up and down as the market changes. Companies that outperform act before their competitors
- Know when, where and how to invest to grow the business
- Act quickly with good, but imperfect information. Speed is more important and course corrections can be made along the way
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